WHANGAREI - More than 2 million litres of water with a retail value of about $2 million has disappeared from Whangarei's supply system in the past year.
Whangarei District Council figures show that in the 12 months to June 30 the level of unaccounted-for water was 24.6 per cent of the more than 8 million cubic metres supplied annually through the district's system.
That equates to 2,178,964 cu m of water, more than the entire contents of the Whau Valley dam, which holds 1.6 million cu m and supplies much of Whangarei city.
The loss marks an increase from the 23.9 per cent of unaccounted-for water in the year to June 30, 1999.
The extent of the loss was revealed at a meeting of the council works and services committee, where leaks, firefighting use, inaccurate meters, flushing after pipeline tests and thefts were blamed.
The worst-affected areas were Mangapai, which lost 37.1 per cent of its water, Whangarei Heads and Hikurangi (both 34.4 per cent) and Whangarei city (29.7 per cent).
Water services manager Simon Weston said a number of large leaks had been repaired in the past year and as the more troublesome mains were replaced, the figures should reduce.
Council spokesman Joe Askew said the cost of unaccounted-for water last year was $248,000.
He said this related to "actual variable costs associated with producing and augmenting water" and did not include fixed costs.peHowever, if the water had been used by consumers at the council's price of 95c a cubic metre, the cost would be more like $2 million.
If the water had been saved and used at the present charge of $1.18 a cubic metre, it would be worth $2.5 million.
Mr Askew said the council was taking steps to reduce water loss, including leak detection and waste-zone monitoring, mains replacement, meter replacement, the use of metered standpipes, a crackdown on illegal connections and pressure-reduction investigations.
- NZPA
Loss of water costs city $2m
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